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I guess I would have to ask what do they have to do to prove themselves since the entire starting LB crew is returning.

Play better than they did this year. We got gnashed up the middle fairly consistently all year. Did they play at SEC Championship level? No, they got better as the year went on & we got about all anyone could expect out of a group that with that much inexperience. There is still a ton of room for improvement & I trust they'll make that jump.

I get where Coondog is coming from & I also get where you're coming from.

They effect what people think about teams. Some of the voters in these polls actually won't drop a team unless they lose. They don't always look at the teams they are beating. They go with this "they can't help whose on their schedule" crap as a justification. So, while in a perfect world, preseason polls wouldn't even exist, because of the media needing to tell us who are playing in the "big games" early in the season in order generate hype, ratings, and thus revenue, we they will continue exist and to slant voting unfortunately.

I don't think pre-season rankings are that important to SEC schools. I'm pretty sure we were pre-season top 10 this season and Auburn wasn't even ranked. If an SEC team wins week after week, they'll move up.

Now, if you're UCF, pre-season rankings make a difference. But we're not. Personally, I would just assume the team start outside of the top ten. We have home games with A&M, Georgia, and Missouri early in 2014, which gives up an excellent chance to climb in the rankings prior to the Auburn game.

2004 Auburn disagrees.

I don't put much credence into pre-season rankings - but it can come back to bite you.

Eight dropped out. Eight took their place. So, the preseason poll was 68% correct in predicting who would finish ranked in the final poll. We can say that a preseason poll is more accurate than not in predicting who will be ranked at season's end

Only a handful of teams finished within five spots of their preseason ranking: SCar, Clemson, Southern Cal, UCLA, Wisconsin. This is probably more inaccurate than most years. However, I think, we can safely say that a preseason poll is a very inaccurate way of predicting where a team will be ranked by EOY.-----------

Don't worry about pre-season rankings. Yeah, they hurt a team like UCF. They will not affect us. Jut win baby.

3 on offense is correct but one of those is the most important position on the field.
Defense we lose 3 of 4 on the DL & both CB's. The real problem is that Dixon Jr was the only DE that contributed substantially in a backup role & the cupboard is about as bare as you will ever find at CB from an experience standpoint.
Point being it's one thing to have to replace starters, everybody does that, what is unusual the almost total lack of experience of the defensive guys that will fill those positions. Just one of those things that happened for a variety of reasons that the staff will have to deal with. It is far from an ideal situation & how it pans out remains to be seen.

I won't speak for tailfeathers but perhaps that's what he means & it's a very legitimate area of concern imo.

To everyone who doubts South Carolina's performance this past season. We finished with the same record as the previous year. These last few years have been the best record-wise in the entire history of our college football. We slacked off somewhat on defense, because it was the youngest defense in the nation statistically. But the Gamecocks still managed to muster an 11-2 record, facing pressure the entire way. We were able to douse Wisconsin's running attack. The Garnet and Black will come roaring back next fall stronger - more inspired than ever and game-proven. We have finished the season with the higest rank in our program's history. All signs are pointing up - and so is our recruiting.

You know after our first couple of successful seasons starting 4 years ago I was worried about how this team would bounce back after losing talent like Jeffery, Ingram, Gilmore and Lattimore. Now I think we have enough depth to sustain competitive teams. We haven't had to rebuild in quite some time. We just reload with new talent. We might not have the national respect we think we deserve but in my eyes we are one of the nations top programs that produces 4-5 NFL players each year and I don't see that changing anytime soon.